PROXY hosted its inaugural Rise Above Your Algorithm video salon discussion on Friday, November 13 at 6:00pm. Leading up to the event, we asked individuals to submit videos for consideration of showing during the event, based on the theme: ERUPT.
The Premise:
we are all being presented with ever-narrowing streams of information being fed to us through various platforms chosen, and not, based on algorithms that have intentions in and of themselves. When responding to a common theme, how does seeing others’ responses bring a broader awareness to the shrinking field of view we each experience in a world of ‘ever-expanding possibilities and information’?
From the submitted videos, we curated a 15:00 minute segment that we screened in person at PROXY for attendees and then opened the floor for dialogue. The results were exactly what we had hoped for.
Video Segments:
Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010_2:18
Macrofying - Lighting a Matchstick_:40
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxBKzO0IjXd/?
Bushman Prank: Maybe I shouldn’t of..._:58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mra79FvvvlI
France Protests_2:45
https://youtu.be/f4hhfpGwB80?si=Dd9Tjl6B60aAhyL7
Chemical Reaction of Compounds_1:00
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DHlhXiSC0hY/
GENER8ION - STORM starring Yung Lean_7:35
https://youtu.be/x6_mbnsh6VU?si=EeTTFhR4PRzKRr14
After playing the clips as a seamless compilation (much like a streaming feed), we allowed the conversation to develop naturally. Several voices identified themes or inquiries that led to engagement between attendees.
At the 15:00 mark of the conversation, we paused the dialogue to share elements of curatorial selection that we felt were important to the understanding of this compilation as a body of collective response to the theme.
We then opened it back up for further discussion, wondering if our curatorial message would shift the arc of the conversation.
We started out with the idea that the assembled compilation of videos should be designed much like this social experiment was. In fact, we treated the event, its format, and its subject matter as a macro-art project, while the compiled video was the nested design object within. Selected from the broader bucket of videos submitted by individuals through PROXY’s event page, the order and sequence of videos were intended to be emblematic of the seeming randomness of a social media feed. We then endeavored to ‘map’ elements that we attribute to social media platforms’ strategic dissemination and individual consumption in a. Engery, b. Emotional Charge, and c. Social and/or Political Affect.
We prepared a series of provocations to stoke the conversation at the intermission:
What does it mean to witness an eruption at varying scales?
across Historic vs Scientific vs Social Commentary scales
How do eruptions shift/change/alter the status quo?
thinking about the dynamic of a ‘building up of’ or potential energy that is released at a point of rupture
What aspects of ‘violence’ attends these various videos and what does that mean for our response to eruptions of various kinds?
To those ends, it was interesting to note that attendees identified the notion that the storage of energy is something which builds potentially over a very long period in the instance of a volcano and that translating that into social and political tensions which build over time can equally result in violent eruptions of energy and destruction. Others mentioned that the video depicting chemical reactions was a reminder that in our current understanding of physical science, energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only transformed or transferred from one form to another. And thus it was intriguing to think about the energy inherent in social systems and through which means that transforms and shifts. The comparative etymology of similar words was equally intriguing: interrupt, disruption, rupture…
Yet another participant stated that comparing the grandeur of something like a volcano to our ‘everyday’ experience and perspective potentially leads to a numbing effect which might cause us to overlook elements of eruptions at a smaller or more intimate scale. Through the lens of the emotional affect that these and many social media have on us as individuals, a strong question rippled through the conversation asking whether we feel as though we have become ‘comfortably numb’ to a broader range of things in today’s society at large.
These and many additional ideas were incredible fodder for meaningful conversation and we look forward to the next edition of RAYA here at PROXY, we hope to see you then!